


Muddled Past

by DaFishi



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Blink And You Miss It Slash, Child Abuse, Episode: s03e12 The Western Air Temple, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Katara is a dick, Light Angst, M/M, Memories, Past Abuse, Protective Toph Beifong, Scarification, Western Air Temple, light fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-09
Updated: 2021-02-09
Packaged: 2021-03-14 18:48:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 559
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29300658
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DaFishi/pseuds/DaFishi
Summary: Zuko comes clean about how he got his scar.
Relationships: Sokka/Zuko (Avatar), The Gaang & Zuko (Avatar), Toph Beifong & Katara & Sokka & Zuko & Aang
Comments: 4
Kudos: 149





	Muddled Past

**Author's Note:**

> Guys two fics.
> 
> You should be proud of me

“So, how did you get your scar?” Katara asks.

Zuko chokes on the air he inhales as everyone looks appalled.

Even Toph looks disgruntled. 

“What the hell, Katara? You don’t say shit like that,” Sokka hisses.

“Why not?” Katara shoots back. “He chased us around the world, he owes us an explanation.”

“He doesn’t owe us shit, Sugar Queen,” Toph threatens. “And even I know that the way you’ve treated Sparky has been fucking disgusting.”

“Can everyone stop swearing?” Aang asks cautiously.

“Not until I get answers,” Katata says defiantly.

She almost threw Zuko off the side of the temple when he started dating Sokka, but now she wanted answers and she was gonna get them.

Zuko places an arm on Sokka’s arm. “It’s fine. I do owe you an explanation.”

Katara sits down, looking expectantly at the Fire Nation Prince.

“I was 13 when I asked Uncle to take me to a war meeting,” Zuko recalls. “I promised I would be quiet.”

Toph is strangely attentive as Zuko starts talking.

“But I couldn’t keep a promise when a general said that he wanted to send a group of young soldiers to their deaths as a diversion,” Zuko says quietly. “I spoke out against him and that was an action of great disrespect.”

“But you were trying to help,” Aang protests.

Zuko smiles bitterly. “That’s not what the general thought. He challenged me to an Agni Kai. I agreed because I thought I could beat him. But I was an idiot.”

Katara scoffs. “He beat you? That’s a rather pathetic story.”

“Katara, I swear to the fucking spirits I’m going to-” Sokka threatens but Zuko cuts him off.

“When I got to the Agni Kai field, it wasn’t the general across from me. It was… my father,” Zuko says.

He takes a deep breath, exhaling shakily. “I’m sorry. I haven’t told this story in a long time.”

“It’s fine, take your time, Sparky,” Toph says kindly.

“Wait, your father?” Katara asks, now genuinely curious.

“I was rude to the general but it was in the Fire Lord’s room in his presence. I had disgraced him. So I had to fight him. But I couldn’t,” Zuko says.

Aang has now moved close to Zuko, hugging the firebender tightly.

Zuko laughs and soothes the Avatar by hugging him back. “I was horrified. I couldn’t fight my father. So I begged for forgiveness. And that was my biggest mistake.”

Everyone had practically stopped breathing.

“He burnt and banished me for being a failure. He had said, ‘You will learn respect and suffering will be your teacher,’” Zuko recalls.

And no one is sure what to say.

But Katara speaks first. “Your father did that to you?”

“I assumed that was obvious, yes,” Zuko says dryly.

Much to the firebender’s surprise, Katara’s eyes were filled with tears.

“Your father burnt you and I haven’t been any better,” Katara whispers, sounding hurt.

Zuko shrugs. “It’s not a big deal. I kind of deserved it.”

“No, you didn’t,” Katara says, voice now firm. “And I’ve been an absolute dick to you.”

“It’s ok. I forgive you,” Zuko says like it’s the easiest thing in the world.

But Katara isn’t quite ready to forgive herself. “Not yet. I can be better.”

Zuko smiles. “For me or for you?”

Katara looks him dead in the eye. 

“Both.”

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and Kudos please!


End file.
